This invention relates to several aspects of smart airbags particularly with the use of crush zone mounted sensors in a smart airbag system. It therefore draws on several previously filed patent applications by the assignee of the present invention as listed above all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Pattern recognition techniques, such as artificial neural networks are finding increased application in solving a variety of problems such as optical character recognition, face recognition, voice recognition, and military target identification. In the automotive industry in particular, pattern recognition techniques have now been applied to identify various objects within the passenger compartment of the vehicle, such as a rear facing child seat, as well as to identify threatening objects with respect to the vehicle, such as an approaching vehicle about to impact the side of the vehicle. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,829,782, 6,343,810 and RE 37,260 which are entirely incorporated herein by reference.
Pattern recognition techniques have also been applied to sense automobile crashes for the purpose of determining whether or not to deploy an airbag or other passive restraint, or to tighten the seatbelts, cutoff the fuel system, or unlock the doors after the crash (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,684,701 which is entirely incorporated herein by reference). In the past, pattern recognition techniques were not applied to forecast the severity of automobile crashes for the purpose of controlling the flow of gas into or out of an airbag to tailor the airbag inflation characteristics or to control seatbelt retractors, pretensioners or energy dissipaters to the crash severity. Furthermore, such techniques were also not to control the flow of gas into or out of an airbag to tailor the airbag inflation characteristics to the size, position or relative velocity of the occupant or other factors such as seatbelt usage, seat and seat back positions, headrest position, vehicle velocity, etc.
Every automobile driver fears that his or her vehicle will breakdown at some unfortunate time, e.g., when he or she is traveling at night, during rush hour, or on a long trip away from home. To help alleviate that fear, certain luxury automobile manufacturers provide roadside service in the event of a breakdown. Nevertheless, unless the vehicle is equipped with OnStar or an equivalent service, the vehicle driver must still be able to get to a telephone to call for service. It is also a fact that many people purchase a new automobile out of fear of a breakdown with their current vehicle. This invention is also concerned with preventing breakdowns and with minimizing maintenance costs by predicting component failure that would lead to such a breakdown before it occurs.
When a vehicle component begins to fail, the repair cost is frequently minimal if the impending failure of the component is caught early, but increases as the repair is delayed. Sometimes if a component in need of repair is not caught in a timely manner, the component, and particularly the impending failure thereof, can cause other components of the vehicle to deteriorate. One example is where the water pump fails gradually until the vehicle overheats and blows a head gasket. It is desirable, therefore, to determine that a vehicle component is about to fail as early as possible so as to minimize the probability of a breakdown and the resulting repair costs.
There are various gages on an automobile which alert the driver to various vehicle problems. For example, if the oil pressure drops below some predetermined level, the driver is warned to stop his vehicle immediately. Similarly, if the coolant temperature exceeds some predetermined value, the driver is also warned to take immediate corrective action. In these cases, the warning often comes too late as most vehicle gages alert the driver after he or she can conveniently solve the problem. Thus, what is needed is a component failure warning system that alerts the driver to the impending failure of a component sufficiently in advance of the time when the problem gets to a catastrophic point.
Some astute drivers can sense changes in the performance of their vehicle and correctly diagnose that a problem with a component is about to occur. Other drivers can sense that their vehicle is performing differently but they don""t know why or when a component will fail or how serious that failure will be, or possibly even what specific component is the cause of the difference in performance. The invention disclosed herein will, in most cases, solve this problem by predicting component failures in time to permit maintenance and thus prevent vehicle breakdowns.
Presently, automobile sensors in use are based on specific predetermined or set levels, such as the coolant temperature or oil pressure, whereby an increase above the set level or a decrease below the set level will activate the sensor, rather than being based on changes in this level over time. The rate at which coolant heats up, for example, can be an important clue that some component in the cooling system is about to fail. There are no systems currently on automobiles to monitor the numerous vehicle components over time and to compare component performance with normal performance. Nowhere in the vehicle is the vibration signal of a normally operating front wheel stored, for example, or for that matter, any normal signal from any other vehicle component. Additionally, there is no system currently existing on a vehicle to look for erratic behavior of a vehicle component and to warn the driver or the dealer that a component is misbehaving and is therefore likely to fail in the very near future.
Sometimes, when a component fails, a catastrophic accident results. In the Firestone tire case, for example, over 100 people were killed when a tire of a Ford Explorer blew out which caused the Ford Explorer to rollover. Similarly, other component failures can lead to loss of control of the vehicle and a subsequent accident. It is thus very important to accurately forecast that such an event will take place but furthermore, for those cases where the event takes place suddenly without warning, it is also important to diagnose the state of the entire vehicle, which in some cases can lead to automatic corrective action to prevent unstable vehicle motion or rollovers resulting in an accident. Finally, an accurate diagnostic system for the entire vehicle can determine much more accurately the severity of an automobile crash once it has begun by knowing where the accident is taking place on the vehicle (e.g., the part of or location on the vehicle which is being impacted by an object) and what is colliding with the vehicle based on a knowledge of the force deflection characteristics of the vehicle at that location.
Therefore, in addition to a component diagnostic, the teachings of this invention also provide a diagnostic system for the entire vehicle prior to and during accidents. In particular, this invention is concerned with the simultaneous monitoring of multiple sensors on the vehicle so that the best possible determination of the state of the vehicle can be determined. Current crash sensors operate independently or at most one sensor may influence the threshold at which another sensor triggers a deployable restraint. In the teachings of this invention, two or more sensors, frequently accelerometers, are monitored simultaneously and the combination of the outputs of these multiple sensors are combined continuously in making the crash severity analysis.
Definitions
xe2x80x9cPattern recognitionxe2x80x9d as used herein means any system which processes a signal that is generated by an object, or is modified by interacting with an object, in order to determine which one of a set of classes the object belongs to. In this case, the object can be a vehicle with an accelerometer which generates a signal based on the deceleration of the vehicle. Such a system might determine only that the object is or is not a member of one specified class (e.g., airbag required crashes), or it might attempt to assign the object to one of a larger set of specified classes, or find that it is not a member of any of the classes in the set. One such class might consist of vehicles undergoing a crash of a certain severity into a pole. The signals processed are generally electrical signals coming from transducers which are sensitive to either acceleration, or acoustic or electromagnetic radiation and, if electromagnetic, they can be either visible light, infrared, ultraviolet or radar.
To xe2x80x9cidentifyxe2x80x9d as used herein means to determine that the object belongs to a particular set or class. The class may be one containing all frontal impact airbag-desired crashes into a pole at 20 mph, one containing all events where the airbag is not required, or one containing all events requiring a triggering of both stages of a dual stage gas generator with a 15 millisecond delay between the triggering of the first and second stages.
A diagnosis of the xe2x80x9cstate of the vehiclexe2x80x9d means a diagnosis of the condition of the vehicle with respect to its stability and proper running and operating condition. Thus, the state of the vehicle could be normal when the vehicle is operating properly on a highway or abnormal when, for example, the vehicle is experiencing excessive angular inclination (e.g., two wheels are off the ground and the vehicle is about to rollover), the vehicle is experiencing a crash, the vehicle is skidding, and other similar situations. A diagnosis of the state of the vehicle could also be an indication that one of the parts of the vehicle, e.g., a component, system or subsystem, is operating abnormally.
An xe2x80x9coccupant restraint devicexe2x80x9d includes any type of device which is deployable in the event of a crash involving the vehicle for the purpose of protecting an occupant from the effects of the crash and/or minimizing the potential injury to the occupant. Occupant restraint devices thus include frontal airbags, side airbags, seatbelt tensioners, knee bolsters, side curtain airbags, externally deployable airbags and the like.
A xe2x80x9cpartxe2x80x9d of the vehicle includes any component, sensor, system or subsystem of the vehicle such as the steering system, braking system, throttle system, navigation system, airbag system, seatbelt retractor, air bag inflation valve, air bag inflation controller and airbag vent valve, as well as those listed below in the definitions of xe2x80x9ccomponentxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9csensorxe2x80x9d.
A xe2x80x9csensor systemxe2x80x9d includes any of the sensors listed below in the definition of xe2x80x9csensorxe2x80x9d as well as any type of component or assembly of components that detect, sense or measure something.
The crush zone is that portion of the vehicle that has crushed at the time that the crash sensor must trigger deployment of the restraint system.
References
All of the references listed below are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Breed, D. S., Castelli, V. xe2x80x9cProblems in Design and Engineering of Air Bag Systemsxe2x80x9d, Society of Automotive Engineers paper No. 880724, 1988.
2. Breed, D. S., Castelli, V. xe2x80x9cTrends in Sensing Frontal Impactsxe2x80x9d, Society of Automotive Engineers paper No. 890750, 1989.
3. Castelli, V., Breed, D. S. xe2x80x9cTrends in Sensing Side Impactsxe2x80x9d, Society of Automotive Engineers paper No. 890603, 1989.
4. Breed, D. S., Castelli, V. and Shokoohi, F. xe2x80x9cAre Barrier Crashes Sufficient for Evaluating Air Bag Sensor Performance?xe2x80x9d, Society of Automotive Engineers paper No. 900548, 1990.
5. Breed, D. S., Sanders, W. T. and Castelli, V. xe2x80x9cA Critique of Single Point Crash Sensingxe2x80x9d, Society of Automotive Engineers paper No. 920124, 1992.
6. Breed, D. S., Sanders, W. T. and Castelli, V. xe2x80x9cPerformance of a Crush Sensor for Use with Automobile airbag Systemsxe2x80x9d, Society of Automotive Engineers paper No. 920122, 1992.
7. Shokoohi, F., Sanders, W. T., Castelli, V., and Breed, D. S. xe2x80x9cCross Axis Specifications For Crash Sensorsxe2x80x9d, Automotive Technologies International Report, ATI 12004, 1991. Society of Automotive Engineers paper No. 930651, 1993.
8. Breed, D. S., Sanders, W. T. and Castelli, V. xe2x80x9cA complete Frontal Crash Sensor System-Ixe2x80x9d, Society of Automotive Engineers paper No. 930650, 1993.
9. Breed, D. S. and Sanders, W. T. xe2x80x9cUsing Vehicle Deformation to Sense Crashesxe2x80x9d, Presented at the International Body and Engineering Conference, Detroit Mich., 1993.
10. Breed, D. S., Sanders, W. T. and Castelli, V., xe2x80x9cA complete Frontal Crash Sensor System-IIxe2x80x9d, Proceedings Enhanced Safety of Vehicles Conference, Munich, 1994, Published by the U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, DC
11. Breed, D. S., Sanders, W. T. and Castelli, V., xe2x80x9cSensing Side Impactsxe2x80x9d, Society of Automotive Engineers paper No. 940561, 1994.
12. Breed, D. S., xe2x80x9cSide Impact Airbag System Technologyxe2x80x9d, Presented at the International Body and Engineering Conference, Detroit Mich., 1994.
13. Breed, D. S., xe2x80x9cA Smart Airbag Systemxe2x80x9d, Presented at the 16th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of vehicles, Windsor, Canada, Paper Number 98 S5 O 13, 1998.
Principle objects of this invention, and other disclosed inventions, include:
1) To control the deployment of occupant restraint systems by monitoring the patterns of signals emitted from the vehicle sensors and, through the use of pattern recognition technology, forecasting the existence and severity of a vehicle crash.
2) To provide a new and improved on-board vehicle diagnostic module utilizing pattern recognition technologies which are trained to differentiate normal from abnormal component behavior.
3) To provide a diagnostic module that determines whether a vehicle is experiencing a crash based on a time series of data from a single sensor or from multiple sensors that contain a pattern indicative of the operating status of the sensors.
4) To simultaneously monitor several sensors, primarily accelerometers, gyroscopes and strain gages, to determine the state of the vehicle and optionally its occupants and to determine that a vehicle is having an accident, for example. If this is so, then the same system of sensors can monitor the early stages of a crash to make an assessment of the severity of the crash and what occupant protection systems should be deployed and how such occupant protection systems should be deployed.
5) To apply trained pattern recognition techniques using multiple sensors to provide an early prediction of the existence and severity of an accident.
6) To utilize pattern recognition techniques and the output from multiple sensors to determine at an early stage that a vehicle rollover might occur to deploy side head protection airbags to reduce the injuries.
In order to achieve these objects and others, a control system for controlling a part of the vehicle in accordance with the invention comprises a plurality of electronic sensors or sensor systems on the vehicle, each sensor system providing a measurement related to a state of the sensor system or a measurement related to a state of the mounting location, and a processor coupled to the sensors or sensor systems and arranged to diagnose the state of the vehicle based on the measurements of the sensor system, e.g., by the application of a pattern recognition technique. The processor controls the part based at least in part on the diagnosed state of the vehicle.
At least one of the electronic sensors or sensor systems may be a high dynamic range accelerometer or a sensor selected from a group consisting of a single axis acceleration sensor, a double axis acceleration sensor, a triaxial acceleration sensor and a gyroscope, and may optionally include an RFID (radio frequency identification) response unit. The gyroscope may be a MEMS-IDT (microelectromechanical system-interdigital transducer) gyroscope including a surface acoustic wave resonator which applies standing waves on a piezoelectric substrate. If an RFID response unit is present, the control system would then comprise an RFID interrogator device which causes the RFID response unit(s) to transmit a signal representative of the measurement of the sensor system associated therewith to the processor.
The state of the vehicle diagnosed by the processor may be the vehicle""s angular motion, angular acceleration and/or angular velocity. As such, the steering system, braking system or throttle system may be controlled by the processor in order to maintain the stability of the vehicle. The processor can also be arranged to control an occupant restraint or protection device in an attempt to minimize injury to an occupant.
The state of the vehicle diagnosed by the processor may also be a determination of a location of an impact between the vehicle and another object. In this case, the processor can forecast the severity of the impact using the force/crush properties of the vehicle at the impact location and control an occupant restraint or protection device based at least in part on the severity of the impact.
The system can also include a weight sensing system coupled to a seat in the vehicle for sensing the weight of an occupying item of the seat. The weight sensing system is coupled to the processor whereby the processor controls deployment or actuation of the occupant restraint or protection device based on the state of the vehicle and the weight of the occupying item of the seat sensed by the weight sensing system.
A display may be coupled to the processor for displaying an indication of the state of the vehicle as diagnosed by the processor. A warning device may be coupled to the processor for relaying a warning to an occupant of the vehicle relating to the state of the vehicle as diagnosed by the processor. Further, a transmission device may be coupled to the processor for transmitting a signal to a remote site relating to the state of the vehicle as diagnosed by the processor.
The state of the vehicle diagnosed by the processor may include angular acceleration of the vehicle whereby angular velocity and angular position or orientation are derivable from the angular acceleration. The processor can then be arranged to control the vehicle""s navigation system based on the angular acceleration of the vehicle.
A method for controlling a part of the vehicle in accordance with the invention comprises the step of mounting a plurality of electronic sensors or sensor systems at different locations on the vehicle, measuring a state of the sensor system or a state of the respective mounting location of the sensor system, diagnosing the state of the vehicle based on the measurements of the state of the sensors or sensor systems or the state of the mounting locations of the sensors or sensor systems, and controlling the part based at least in part on the diagnosed state of the vehicle. The state of the sensor system may be any one or more of the acceleration, angular acceleration, angular velocity or angular orientation of the sensor system.
Diagnosis of the state of the vehicle may entail determining whether the vehicle is stable or is about to rollover or skid and/or determining a location of an impact between the vehicle and another object. Diagnosis of the state of the vehicle may also entail determining angular acceleration of the vehicle based on the acceleration measured by accelerometers if multiple accelerometers are present as the sensors or sensor systems.
Another control system for controlling a part of the vehicle in accordance with the invention comprises a plurality of electronic sensors or sensor systems mounted on the vehicle, each providing a measurement of a state of the sensor system or a state of the mounting location of the sensor system and generating a signal representative of the measurement, and a pattern recognition system for receiving the signals from the sensors or sensor systems and diagnosing the state of the vehicle based on the measurements of the sensors or sensor systems. The pattern recognition system generates a control signal for controlling the part based at least in part on the diagnosed state of the vehicle. The pattern recognition system may comprise one or more neural networks. The features of the control system described above may also be incorporated into this control system to the extent feasible.
The state of the vehicle diagnosed by the pattern recognition system may include a state of an abnormally operating component whereby the pattern recognition system is designed to identify a potentially malfunctioning component based on the state of the component measured by the sensors or sensor systems and determine whether the identified component is operating abnormally based on the state of the component measured by the sensors or sensor systems.
In one preferred embodiment, the pattern recognition system may comprise a neural network system and the state of the vehicle diagnosed by the neural network system includes a state of an abnormally operating component. The neural network system includes a first neural network for identifying a potentially malfunctioning component based on the state of the component measured by the sensors or sensor systems and a second neural network for determining whether the identified component is operating abnormally based on the state of the component measured by the sensors or sensor systems.
Modular neural networks can also be used whereby the neural network system includes a first neural network arranged to identify a potentially malfunctioning component based on the state of the component measured by the sensors or sensor systems and a plurality of additional neural networks. Each of the additional neural networks is trained to determine whether a specific component is operating abnormally so that the measurements of the state of the component from the sensors or sensor systems are input into that one of the additional neural networks trained on a component which is substantially identical to the identified component.
Another method for controlling a part of the vehicle comprises the steps of mounting a plurality of electronic sensors or sensor systems on the vehicle, measuring a state of the sensor system or a state of the respective mounting location of the sensor system, generating signals representative of the measurements of the sensors or sensor systems, inputting the signals into a pattern recognition system to obtain a diagnosis of the state of the vehicle and controlling the part based at least in part on the diagnosis of the state of the vehicle.
In one notable embodiment, a potentially malfunctioning component is identified by the pattern recognition system based on the states measured by the electronic sensors or sensor systems and the pattern recognition system determine whether the identified component is operating abnormally based on the states measured by the sensors or sensor systems. If the pattern recognition system comprises a neural network system, identification of the component entails inputting the states measured by the sensors or sensor systems into a first neural network of the neural network system and the determination of whether the identified component is operating abnormally entails inputting the states measured by the sensors or sensor systems into a second neural network of the neural network system.
A modular neural network system can also be applied in which the states measured by the electronic sensors or sensor systems are input into a first neural network and a plurality of additional neural networks are provided, each being trained to determine whether a specific component is operating abnormally, whereby the states measured by the sensors or sensor systems are input into that one of the additional neural networks trained on a component which is substantially identical to the identified component.
In combination with the control system or separate therefrom, an accurate location determination system may be used which comprises an IMU for determining the location of the vehicle, at least one GPS receiver, and a processor embodying a Kalman filter coupled to the IMU and the GPS receiver for periodically calibrating the location of the vehicle as determined by the IMU using data from the GPS receiver(s) and the Kalman filter. Optionally, a DGPS receiver is coupled to the processor which receives information from the DGPS receiver and corrects the determination of the location of the vehicle as determined by the GPS receiver(s) and/or the IMU.
Other objects of this invention and of the broader invention of smart airbags include:
1) The use of pattern recognition techniques such as a neural network, or neural-network-derived algorithm, to analyze the digitized accelerometer data (also referred to as acceleration data herein) created during a crash and, in some cases, occupant size, position, seatbelt use, weight and velocity data, and, in other cases, data from an anticipatory crash sensor, to determine not only if and when a passive restraint such as an airbag should be deployed but also to control the flow of gas into or out of the airbag.
2) To provide a single point sensor including an accelerometer that makes maximum use of the information in the acceleration data to determine not only whether an airbag should be deployed but also the rate of deployment as required for Phase 3 Smart Airbags.
3) To provide a single point sensor including an accelerometer which makes maximum use of the information in the acceleration data to determine not only whether an airbag should be deployed but the total amount of gas which should be used to inflate the airbag as required for Phase 3 Smart Airbags.
4) To provide a single point sensor including an accelerometer which makes maximum use of the information in the acceleration data to determines the gas flow control parameter value for use by a gas control module to control the flow of gas into or out of an airbag as required for Phase 3 Smart Airbags.
5) To provide a single computer system which can perform several different pattern recognition functions within an automobile or other vehicle including, for example, crash sensing and severity prediction, anticipatory sensing, identification of an occupant located within the vehicle passenger compartment and determination of the position and velocity of the occupant.
6) To provide a crash sensor and crash severity prediction algorithm which is derived by training using a set of data derived from staged automobile crashes and non-crash events as well as other analytically derived data, as required for Phase 3 Smart Airbags.
7) To provide a crash sensor and/or crash severity prediction algorithm based on pattern recognition techniques.
8) To provide a crash sensor and crash severity prediction algorithm which uses other data in addition to acceleration data derived from the crash wherein this data is combined with acceleration data and, using pattern recognition techniques, the need for deployment and the rate of deployment of a passive restraint is determined.
9) To provide a crash sensor and crash severity prediction algorithm using data from an anticipatory sensor and an occupant position and velocity sensing system to optimize the deployment of a passive restraint system taking into account the crash severity and occupant dynamics to minimize injuries to the occupant as required for Phase 4 Smart Airbags.
10) To provide an electronic module which combines the functions of crash sensing and crash severity prediction, occupant position and velocity sensing, anticipatory sensing (as required for Phase 4 Smart Airbags) and airbag system diagnostics.
11) To provide a Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3 or Phase 4 Smart Airbag system which uses a neural computer.
12) To provide a smart airbag system that optimizes the deployment of an occupant protection apparatus in a motor vehicle, such as an airbag, to protect an occupant of the vehicle in a crash by controlling the flow of inflator gas into or out of the airbag.
13) To provide a self contained side impact occupant protection airbag system incorporating the advantages of a movable mass sensor resulting in a low cost, compact airbag system.
14) To provide a more compact self contained side impact airbag system by providing for the exhausting of the airbag gas into the vehicle door or side, therefore permitting the use of higher temperature gas and propellants which would otherwise not be viable due to their toxic products.
15) To provide a highly reliable side impact occupant protection electronic self contained airbag system.
16) To provide an electronic, electromechanical or mechanical sensor for use with either a self-contained airbag system or conventional airbag system wherein the sensor system senses the acceleration of the vehicle member on which it is mounted and where in the sensed acceleration is the crush zone acceleration and is used to control the deployment of the side airbag.
17) To provide a sensor system that will sense all airbag desired crashes involving the either the front, rear or a side of the vehicle wherein the sensors are mounted in the crush zones of the vehicle.
18) To provide an electronic sensor for mounting in the vehicle crush zone for frontal, side or rear impacts.
19) To improve crash sensing and crash severity forecasting by combining electronic crush zone mounted sensors with electronic non-crush zone (or passenger compartment) mounted electronic sensors.
20) To improve the determination of the state of the vehicle by using distributed electronic crush zone mounted sensors.
21) To provide a sensor which is much longer than it is wide or thick thus permitting it to sense crashes over a large area while occupying a relatively small space.
22) To provide a sensor that can be easily shaped so to be properly placed in the crush zone across the entire front, side or rear of the vehicle
23) To provide a crush sensor where the rate of deformation required to trigger the sensor can be measured along the length of the sensor.
24) To provide a sensor to be used in conjunction with an electronic passenger compartment mounted sensor which will trigger on all of the airbag desired crashes which are missed by the electronic passenger compartment mounted sensor alone for either frontal, side or rear impacts.
25) To provide a simple and convenient sensor system consisting of a single discriminating sensor mounted in crush zones and one or more arming sensors mounted in the passenger compartment for frontal, side and/or rear impacts.
26) To provide a crush velocity change crash sensor which functions when a portion of the vehicle where the sensor is mounted is displaced, deformed or otherwise bends or buckles.
27) To provide a hermetically sealed crush velocity sensing crash sensor.
28) To provide a small, inexpensive, yet highly reliable crash velocity change sensor.
29) To provide an arrangement for a vehicle including a crush zone-mounted discriminating sensor (which provides information about the reaction of the crush zone to a crash, such as the crush of the crush zone, the velocity change of the crush zone resulting from the crash and the acceleration of the crush zone resulting from the crash) used in conjunction with a passenger compartment-mounted discriminating sensor to permit a better discrimination between air bag desired and not desired crashes such as animal impacts.
30) To provide an arrangement for a vehicle including a crush zone-mounted discriminating sensor as input to an electronic passenger-compartment discriminating sensor module to permit a change in the sensor algorithm, or triggering parameters, based of the output of the crush zone discriminating sensor to improve the performance of the sensor system.
Preferred embodiments of the invention are described herein and unless specifically noted, it is the applicant""s intention that the words and phrases in the specification and claims be given the ordinary and accustomed meaning to those of ordinary skill in the applicable art(s). If applicant intends any other meaning, he will specifically state he is applying a special meaning to a word or phrase.
Likewise, applicant""s use of the word xe2x80x9cfunctionxe2x80x9d here is not intended to indicate that the applicant seek to invoke the special provisions of 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7112, sixth paragraph, to define his invention. To the contrary, if applicant wishes to invoke the provisions of 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7112, sixth paragraph, to define his invention, he will specifically set forth in the claims the phrases xe2x80x9cmeans forxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cstep forxe2x80x9d and a function, without also reciting in that phrase any structure, material or act in support of the function. Moreover, even if applicant invokes the provisions of 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7112, sixth paragraph, to define his invention, it is the applicant""s intention that his inventions not be limited to the specific structure, material or acts that are described in the preferred embodiments herein. Rather, if applicant claims their inventions by specifically invoking the provisions of 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7112, sixth paragraph, it is nonetheless his intention to cover and include any and all structure, materials or acts that perform the claimed function, along with any and all known or later developed equivalent structures, materials or acts for performing the claimed function.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.